A New Start
by deathofkasha
Summary: Draco returns to Hogwarts after losing both his parents and STILL has to deal with Potter. Postwar, fluff and DMxHP.
1. Chapter one

Disclaimer: Yeah so i forgot to say this when i first posted this chapter but NO i don't own anything here and i doubt you wanna try to sue me anyways, the government already owns me thanks to student loans.

AN: Ok so this was a little difficult for me, having never used before, but i am hoping it helps improve my writing. I just hope that my amazing beta, who writes dramione, made my story actually readable. (for some reason this site wont left me write her name)

**Chapter One: Midnight Stroll**

It was 9:30pm and Draco was getting very restless; which had been happening more and more since the end of the war. Harry Potter had won, of course; but he figured that was for the better. If the Dark Lord had been allowed to win, his family would have been in worse shape than they were now. They were failures to the Dark Lord and would have received nothing from him; that is, if he even allowed them to live. As it stands now, the ministry just took most of their money to help pay for damages from the war. This had happened with most of the pure bloods, save for families against the Dark Lord such as the Weasleys. So, Draco's family had sold some of their lesser used villas and a mansion they owned somewhere in North America to get back the money they had lost.  
>Most of his friends died in the war, moved to another country, or were sentenced in Azkaban; leaving him with nothing better to do, Draco had taken to roaming the neighboring town.<p>

"Is master to be leaving again?" a house elf asked as Draco got out of his bed.

"Yes, Tak," Draco responded. "Now get my jacket."

"Yes, master," the house elf said leaving the room and returning holding a black leather coat.

"Oh and don't tell my father I am gone," Draco said pulling the coat out of the elf's hands and put it on. He left his room, heading out the front door and through the yard to the uneven, dirt road; leading him to the flavorless town. His family had moved to the country side shortly after the war; mostly because he and his mother were attacked in Diagon Alley by a man with a knife screaming something about Death Eaters and his daughter. Draco really couldn't recall the events exactly, nor did he care to try. The move had been refreshing and allowed the family time to be together; something that was rarely ever done with Malfoys. However, the happiness took a sharp turn for the worse; Draco's mother had taken ill shortly after getting settled in. She passed on only a few short days thereafter, leaving Draco to quiet memories that plagued him at night. These days his father spent most of his time checking the finances and balancing the books or in his study ignoring Draco, thus creating an awkward tension whenever the two happened to cross paths. Lucius never was one to take an interest in parenting; Narcissa had been the doting mother, doing her best to be his mom and dad - figuratively of course.

He could tell he was getting closer to the town by the aroma of newly baked bread being carried toward him via the light, night's breeze. His stomach growled, throwing a tantrum much like a child begging for candy in a grocery store. He had been busy that day trying to get his books and supplies in one trip for the new school year that started in a month; he had involuntarily skipped lunch and dinner. He was beginning to think that he really should have made some time for food as his stomach gave another loud rumble, demanding that he pick up his pace - to which he easily complied. There was one advantage to coming to this muggle town. Most places did not close before 10pm; the hefty majority had operating hours that went to Midnight or later due to the large amount of people that seemed to enjoy staying up at night. He had finally reached the town's boundaries and he could see a fair amount of people wondering out on the street. Most appeared to be about his age, but there were a few that looked like they could possibly be in their 30s. Everyone was nice, as usual, and waved as Draco passed, a few stopping him to talk. He really hated this; they were MUGGLES after all, not wanting to make enemies though, he held his tongue.

The houses on this side of town were aged, dilapidated, and made of wood - most damage came from termites and dry rot. The shops were in better condition, seemingly well taken care of and reconstructed with metal so they did not have to same problems as the houses he had just passed. There were also the hill-top houses that over looked the small town. They were large, modeling the North American Plantation Home style. Members of the town who did not have their own business worked at one of the four houses. Draco had wanted to live in one of them, fascinated by the unique and unfamiliar architecture; but the existing houses already had owners - most likely passed down to families through generations - and his dad said it would bring too much attention to them if they had built their own.  
>Draco finally stopped in front of Rose Bakery and Pastries; just in time to see a fresh rack with his current favorite pastry, an apple cinnamon bear claw, being put out. He went up to the counter were a short, well build, man was working.<p>

"Hello," Draco said looking over the drink menu, "I would like one of the apple cinnamon bear claws and a pot of tea please." "Ok, well that would be $8.25," He said holding out his hand.

Draco paid with some of the muggle money he gotten from Gringotts before moving - hidden from his father, of course. With food in hand, he walked to a table in the far back corner of the bakery and sat down. It was more quiet than usual; on the average day, Draco could count at least fifteen people in the building, but today, everyone just seemed to want to roam the town and look at the scenery. With only three people in the bakery it left Draco with too much room to think. He thought about how much he wished he could see Blaise, one of the few not in Azkaban like Goyle; but he also thought about what school was going to be like for him. Probably a horrible nightmare, now that everyone thought he was a death eater who got off because he flashed his money. They were only partially right; his dad had given a large sum of money to the ministry, but only to get himself off - not his son. They had only let him off because after going through memory after memory, one a few from Saint Potter himself, they had seen that he did not want the Death Eater life and that he regretted not taking Dumbledore up on his offer when he could.

Finishing off his tea he put the cup on the counter and left the small, cozy shop. The moon was well above his head when he decided he might as well go home and try to get some sleep before his father sent the house elves to wake him for breakfast. Looking at the silver watch on his wrist he found it to be almost eleven o'clock. He turned towards home and started at a brisk pace, hoping to get home before the house elves came to check on him - something his mother had ordered them to do while she was ill. He was almost home when he could see the driveway; it was only half a mile from there. He picked up pace to a jog when he was abruptly reacquainted with the cold, hard ground and smacked his head. He felt something trickle down his head and knew he must be bleeding. Then there was a pressure on his back; when he went to turn around, something whacked the back of his head and everything went black.

AN: Sorry i know a little short and probably a boring but it is just filler to let you know what is going on so stick with me!


	2. Chapter two

Disclaimer: second verse same as the first!

AN: So my beta finally got to getting this chapter done and i hope that i makes more sense then the non-beta version!

Chapter 2: the next day

Draco slowly became aware of the pain that was shooting throughout his body; most of it was merely in his head. He slowly opened his eyes only to find he was staring at the silver and black canopy of his own bed and there was a large amount of light coming through his open curtains; it must be close to midday. He moved around trying to get more comfortable and realized he was actually in his night clothes. Had it all been a dream, had he never really gone out last night? He heard a small squeal by the door and when he looked he realized he had no such luck; his father stood in the doorway, a small, terrified elf at his feet.

"Draco, please explain why I had the house elves waking me up in the middle of the night, notifying me that you were missing," Lucius hissed, "Also... would you mind enlightening me as to why you were found asleep on the ground?"

"I was not sleeping. I got knocked unconscious," Draco growled. He was in no mood for his father's lectures on how a Malfoy should act and he knew that was where this was going. His arm gave a small pain and he lightly touched it, but soon it drew his full attention. "Someone from the village probably fallowed me, and when I fell, took the chance to rob me."

"Rob you?" Lucius questioned, his temper growing. "Why would they want to rob you? You have no money they could use!"

"I don't know! Maybe they wanted my watch? Even a bum would know was valuable. Seeing as I am not wearing it anymore, that would be a wise assumption to make!" Draco yelled. He knew this would only make things worse but he could not help it, the pain in his head was growing and the only thing his father wanted to do was control him with the Malfoy handbook.

"What were you even doing in that town!" Lucius growled venomously. "You know Malfoys do NOT associate with those types."

"Why do you care?" Draco hissed. "You just sit in your study all day and barely even come out for meals. I might as well be living here with a bunch of house elves!"

"I care about what it will look like if you are seen by another wizard with those people!" Lucius smacked his cane on the ground with every few words for emphasis. Draco just glared at the man defiantly. "I should have known you would be too stubborn to understand. From now on you are not to leave the grounds and to make sure of it I will have the wards put up."

Draco just stood there with his mouth hanging open as the man left. How dare he do that! Draco was already seventeen! He was an adult! He could do what he wanted when he wanted and there was nothing that his father would be able to do about it. Draco huffed angrily and felt a tug at his sleeve.

"There is food for the Master if he is to want it," Tak said timidly in a squeaky voice.

"Yes, I would," Draco replied and his stomach gave a small rumble. "Bring it to me I'm in too much pain right now to walk anywhere."

The house elf gave a nod and popped out. Draco sat back on his pillow and pulled a book out of his night stand. It was his potions book for the upcoming school year; he figured if he was going to be stuck in a bed for now he might as well be as productive as possible. It only took a few minutes before the house elf came back; she was hovering a plate of chocolate crepes with strawberries and a large latte towards him. When Draco had finally finished off as much food as he felt he could eat, he climbed out of bed and decided to go spend time in the library; the one place where he knew he could avoid his father.

Draco had just gotten to the library when there came a tapping on one of the windows, and Draco went over to the window and opened it. It turned out to be the Daily Prophet, which Draco decided to continually receive even though it was always filled with news of Potter. The owl landed on a nearby table and Draco put a few Knuts in the brown pouch attached to its left leg while taking the paper from its talons.

Why do you insist on getting that infernal paper, Draco? Lucius said from the door, startling Draco.

Truthfully, I don t know, Father, Draco replied.

His father suddenly started coughing and rubbing his chest before talking. So what s in the headlines today?

Are you ok? Draco inquired; his father had never looked quite as tired, or weak, as he did now.

I m fine, Lucius hissed sitting down, now, the paper.

Draco unrolled the paper and looked down, instantly regretting it: right on the front page was a picture of Potter snogging the Weaslette. Draco took a few seconds to compose himself before reading it aloud.

Wedding of the Century Due any Day, Draco read the headline. After seeing Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley snogging, we at the Daily Prophet decided to do a little snooping to find out when the knot is to be tied. The inside story is that the proposal will happen around Christmas and the wedding will happen late summer after the two officially graduate from Hogwarts.

Draco grimaced at the paper and looked at his father who wore a similar look.

Well it seems Mr. Potter is still getting some well deserved attention, Lucius spoke politely enough, but the slight grimace said he was not pleased. Who could blame him though, Potter had been in every issue of the paper in one way or another since the war had ended, and the boy was probably bathing in the attention.

Yeah, well, someone needs to tell them that Potter is not the only person in this world. That just because the war is over, it does not mean that people have stopped dying, Draco snarled, losing his composure.

Lucius just stood up and walked out of the library, but not before Draco noticed him rubbing his chest again. Draco just brushed it off, his father had many old wounds that had not healed properly and acted up from time to time. Now that Draco s mind was filled with annoying thoughts of Potter and the Weaslett, he knew he would no longer be able to read, so he decided to see if some flying would help clear his head. He went to his room and grabbed his broom; he then headed out to the small, but deep, valley behind his house where no muggles could see him.

When Draco finally got into the air, he took a deep breath. He sometimes forgot how nice it was being in the air, feeling so light and lazy. He only wished, not that he would ever admit to it, that he had someone with whom he could play Quidditch. Draco pushed that thought out of his mind though, and soon went to work on just practicing moves that he hoped would help him humiliate Potter; maybe the humiliation would be bad enough that the boy might even try to kill himself. Soon the sun started setting below the horizon and Draco knew he should go in. He flew back to his house, staying low so that no one would be able to spot him, and when he got there he put his broom up and washed so he could get some food. When he finally made it to the dining room no one was there; his father should have already eaten by now.

Tak, Draco called and the small house elf popped in before him.

Yes, Master, she replied, bowing low.

Make me something to eat, Draco commanded sitting down at the table. Just some chicken with lemon sauce will do.

The elf nodded and disappeared right before another appeared with a pitcher of water and a glass. The elf levitated the items onto the table, bowed, and left. It was some time later before Tak returned with his food and Draco had amused himself by breaking, and then repairing, random, unimportant things in the dining room. Tak placed the food in front of Draco and left.

Draco was half way through his chicken, wondering how the elves seemed to never get it wrong, when he heard footsteps behind him and turned to look: his father; twice in one day, what a treat.

Hello, father, Draco greeted, have you not eaten yet?

No, Draco, I haven't Lucius replied, I got busy and must have lost track of time.

Well, maybe you should work a little less, Draco scrutinized.

Draco, it is obviously much harder than you think trying to keep the Malfoy finances straight.

I m sorry, father, I did not mean to belittle the work, you just seem tired as of late. Maybe I can do some of it for you so that it is not so hard on you?

Not until I properly clean up the mess the war left them in; I need to make sure my investments are properly set up before I try to hand them over to you.

Draco knew that, while his father seemed cordial enough, he would like nothing more than to hex Draco into a match box for what Lucius saw as insolence. It surprised Draco that he did not do it, though. A house elf entered the room carrying tray of food and some wine, it was placed in front of Lucius.

Is sirs done with his food? the elf asked, looking expectantly at Draco.

Yes, you may take it, Draco replied standing up. Well, father, I am going to retire to my room for the night. Good night.

Very well, good night Draco, Lucius replied.

When Draco returned to his room he decided to just go to bed; sometimes talking to his father was draining. Draco changed into some pajama pants, crawled into bed, and, thinking of the upcoming school year, he quickly fell asleep.

Ok so having a little bit of a writers block and i hope it will be over soon so that you can get chapter 3! Next chapter things start picking up and then we will finally get into Hogwarts in chapter 4! xD sorry this is slow to pick up.


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